Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

Jost may meet his nephew Karl who may still be in the Marine Infantry and even Jost has to respect Karl as a veteran of The Battle of the Sausage Grinder.
 
Jost may meet his nephew Karl who may still be in the Marine Infantry and even Jost has to respect Karl as a veteran of The Battle of the Sausage Grinder.
I think its become a point of pride for the Shultz menfolk to never admit to respecting their male kin. Unless you consider the rather large range of insults they throw at each other to be terms of endearment.
 
Part 119, Chapter 1996
Chapter One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety-Six



28th June 1970

Pacoima, Los Angeles, California

The reception was drawing to a close as the night wore on. The crowd had thinned a bit, so Ritchie and Lucia had already spent some time saying goodbyes to their guests before they left for the night. The band had resorted to playing requests as there were still several couples interested in dancing. Mostly, everyone was at their table having seconds of cake or they were standing in knots talking.

“I think that we got out at the right time” Parker said, “Some of the things I’ve been hearing through the grapevine about what the CIA has been up to have been questionable.”

They were standing at the open bar waiting for drinks, the music from the band made eavesdropping difficult. That was probably why Parker approached him here.

“How certain are you about your source?” Ritchie asked.

Parker just shrugged, which was typical for him.

This was the first time that Ritchie had seen Parker since he had left the Special Forces to go work for MGM over in England more than a year earlier. They had not had a chance to talk before now because Parker and Sigi had only flown in the night before. They had been traveling around Europe after the filming of the latest James Bond film had wrapped up. When would have Parker had time to talk to his source? Ritchie didn’t know.

“I don’t know if you heard, but the Government of Chile has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. Some in the CIA are thinking it would be worth it to give them a push” Parker replied, “There is also talk that the Germans have been moving assets into Southern Cone in case someone down there does something stupid.”

Ritchie looked across the hall at Kiki who was talking with his mother and Lucia. He still couldn’t believe that they had invited Kiki, or that she had decided to come. If what Parker was saying was true, that complicated things. Though Ritchie wasn’t sure how that affected him even if he had a couple German Officers at his wedding. He was no longer in the Special Forces, the National Guard Division he was a part of seemed mostly concerned with what was happening along the West Coast from Oregon all the way to the border with Mexico. He had heard that unofficially the Division kept a close eye on what was happening in Baja as well, it would be foolish for them not to. How events on the very southern end of South America might come into play here he couldn’t begin to guess.

“It was because of that Ecuadorian thing, isn’t it?” Ritchie asked, “Why the Chilian Government is teetering?”

“The undeclared war in Ecuador was a proxy war between Chile and Argentina” Parker said, “In turn, Argentina has been closely allied with Germany for years. Since that failed coup there that the German Navy helped them squash.”

That was one of those stories that was hard to ignore. A Battleship firing into a city with its main battery was one of those things that got people’s attention, even twenty years later. Only the Germans would be crazy enough to pull a stunt like that.

----------------------------------------------------------------

For Kiki, the wedding was a bit of a tightrope to walk. If she had dressed too nicely, she would upstage Lucia. On the other hand, if she wore clothes were seen as being cheap or tawdry it would be seen as an insult. Luckily for her, the nature of the wedding had enabled her to sidestep that. Ritchie was Noncommissioned Officer in what Kiki realized was something like the Landwehr Divisions back home as well as being in the Los Angeles Police. So many of the guests were wearing the dress uniforms of the US Army and the LAPD. That was why Kiki had worn her Medical Service dress uniform whose grey-blue fabric didn’t look particularly good on anyone, the Medals and Orders she wore with it though, those changed everything.

“What are you going to do with the rest of your week?” Concha asked, “While you are in LA?”

“The holiday is over after this I am afraid” Kiki replied, “Tomorrow, I am supposed to be at the Medical Center at UCLA giving a lecture about my role in the Medical Service. Then there is the rest of the week, I have some time at a free clinic in the City Center lined up as well as a few meetings which I would prefer not to do but are a necessary evil.”

“Because you are a Princess?” Lucia asked.

“No” Kiki replied, “As a Field Surgeon. I would have declined if they were asking me solely because of my family connections.”

“You don’t like using family connections that way?” Concha asked, “If I was in your shoes, I’d use them in every way I could.”

Kiki paused. How did she explain this in a way that Concha might understand? It seemed that in Concha’s thinking, using family connections to advance yourself was something that you did if you were smart, and Kiki understood that she didn’t really understand Kiki’s stubbornness.

“When I was a little girl, my father’s Retainer, Katherine told me that unless I earned my own place in the world, I would always be beholden to my father and oldest brother” Kiki said, “I have always wanted to be a Doctor, so I joined the Medical Service as soon as was old enough.”

“This Katrina sounds like a smart lady” Lucia said, “But what do you mean by retainer?”

“Kat is sort of the Royal Assassin, or at least she was” Kiki replied.

“You still have those over there?” Concha asked with a bit of disbelief.
 
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In the first thread Chile was playing the United States against Germany until Schultz with the help of Pujos and Marzel yanked their chains.
IOTL this the time of Salvador Allende and Augustos Pinochet so fun times in Santiago for everybody.
I doubt that with the experience in Latin America that President Rockefeller has in doing business and the Rockefeller Foundation that he would set the United States in course that would lead to a conflict with Germany.
The problem with teetering governments is that they may try to distract from internal domestic crisis by fomenting an international crisis in order to unify the people but that only works in the short term.
 
Parker needs a good NCO to help with his company, and there is just the right person retiring from the Heer that might fit the bill. Imagine having him run the part that teaches the actors what its like realistically.
 
It's hard for local wars to stay "local". What are the odds that South America is the keg of TNT that the Balkans were IOTL? Especially if Chile believes they can use German troops to run a bluff.
 
Finaly! Finished the reread...
And it was as wonderfull as the first time.

As for the last part, the election of the next Emperor, what are the constituents of the Empire and what are only affiliated states? Also how does Germany in this TL compare to the other major nations like USA, Russia and maybe India and China with an eye on economic and population size as well as freedoms?

Again thanks for the grand adventure.
 
Part 119, Chapter 1997
Chapter One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety-Seven



29th June 1970

Rural Santa Cruz Province, Argentina

They were supposed to be getting a lay of the land by traveling down one of the roads that led away from Rio Gallegos and to ascertain the condition of a narrow-gauge railroad that ran from the coast up to the mine in Rio Turbio. The idea that they had been ordered to do this by the Oberst to get some of the men out of the barracks for a couple of days was entirely believable. Sending out patrols had always been a good way looking like you were doing something without doing a whole lot. The Volkswagen Iltis was perfect for this region, which had become very evident in Rio Gallegos where most of the civilian vehicles were either versions of the Iltis, the ubiquitous Opal Blitz, and even a number of old Kubelwagens.

So far today, Christian had seen that there was absolutely nothing to see. Just rolling hills covered in a thin dusting of snow. There was also a noticeable lack of trees, all the plants were scrub brush that was only about waist high at most.

Even the road, National Route 40 which supposedly crossed the whole of Argentina from south to north was only a graveled track that was going more or less in a westerly direction. The map said that the road turned north eventually and ran parallel to the Andes. Occasionally, they saw signs denoting sheep stations but even those were few in number. There were also the somewhat odd mile markers every few kilometers.

Looking at how desolate the countryside was, Christian was starting to understand the warnings he had been given about how getting lost out here could have consequences far worse than merely being embarrassed. That was why Christian was keeping a close eye on the map and hoping that Maus kept to the main road. The difference between the National Route and some unnamed track leading nowhere was not as great as he might have preferred. They had been advised not to be afraid to ask for help from the locals, many of them were of German or Swiss descent. However, they had also been warned that because the frontier with Chile was close by, so most people saw the presence of soldiers in their communities as bad news. Which was it? They also had been warned against crossing the border into Chile, an invisible line that was no more than a few kilometers away.

Looking in the mirror, Christian saw the second Iltis of their patrol about twenty meters behind them. Einar was in command of that one and had Jorge, their liaison from the Argentine Army as a passenger. Christian figured that Jorge’s rank was roughly equivalent to Unteroffizer and had been somewhat underwhelmed by the man. He also got impression that the Argentinian had been assigned to the 7th Recon as punishment for some unknown infraction. The fact that they had needed to stop an hour out of Rio Gallegos because Jorge had been overcome with motion sickness had done nothing to dispel that notion.

Coming around a bend in the road, they came across a sight that looked like something from another century. Men on horses guiding a herd of sheep the opposite direction.

“Gold Four to Gold Nine, be advised that we are stopping to let local commerce proceed” Christian said into the radio.

“Are you sure?” Einar asked, “We are pushing it if we are going to make our destination by nightfall.”

They had been advised against attempting to travel down these roads after dark because the hazards would only increase. As if the presence of the Gauchos wasn’t a big clue that despite the fact that the vehicles that they were riding in might have been built within the last couple years, this landscape was little changed from how it might have been a century earlier. They had not seen anything resembling a streetlight outside the very center of Rio Gallegos. Not that it was much of a consideration because Rio Turbio was only a couple hours further up the road, so they would have to really get lost to not make it there before dark.

“Don’t worry about that” Christian said into the microphone. “So, we get to camp out tonight, we have far more important considerations here.”

A few weeks earlier, Manny had told Christian that if he ever wanted to become a Feldwebel he would need to start showing leadership in the field and act without having to be ordered to. He also needed to consider his actions within the context of the larger mission. That was understandable from Christian’s perspective, but there had been many times when he had seen how Manny had not seen the obvious when it was right in front of him. These Gauchos for example. Manny would have let them pass with probably no more than a friendly wave. Christian saw different possibilities. These people lived right up against the border and you would be kidding yourself if they didn’t conduct business on both sides of it. Christian had seen it many times before while growing up in Cottbus which was close to the border between Brandenburg and Silesia. Anytime there were two areas with different taxes and demands, small scale smuggling was just a given. Often it was in the form of cartons of cigarettes or cases of booze. If you could buy it cheaply on one side of the line and sell it for a profit on the other, the incentive existed to do just that. The thing was, the Gauchos living in this region had something far more valuable than they realized, information. They knew this country and what was happening across the line in Chile. Both those things were of high value to the 7th Recon.

“Good day” Christian said with a smile as one of the Gauchos approached the Iltis. He could see the covetous look the man was giving the vehicle. Here in Patagonia, a four-wheel drive military package Iltis would be the ultimate status symbol. It wasn’t for sale though. Then Christian saw some of the other things that the Gaucho was pretending not to take an interest in. Christian knew in that instant how to buy his cooperation, it was just a question of getting Manny to go along with it.
 
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Parker needs a good NCO to help with his company, and there is just the right person retiring from the Heer that might fit the bill. Imagine having him run the part that teaches the actors what its like realistically.
And thus the son may follow in the footsteps of the father. Perhaps he'll find a woman in Hollywood (from Germany) who he can sweep off her feet and take back to the Old Country just as Dad did with dear old Mum?
 
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Part 119, Chapter 1998
Chapter One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety-Eight



30th June 1970

Mitte, Berlin

It was just an odd coincidence, but both reports had landed on Helene’s desk on the same day. As Minister of Interior, her job was to go through them and glean what she could as the information pertained to her field. The first report detailed lessons learned in the invasion of Poland and the second had been compiled by the BND, explaining just what had happened in Serbia and Albania a few years prior.

There were entirely too many parallels in those reports for comfort.

In both cases, nationalistic groups had decided that the best course of action had been the removal and/or extermination of another group had been in their interest. The Albanians had made the mistake of involving themselves on behalf of the Bosniaks and had realized too late that a substantial portion of their own population was seen as undesirable to the combatant Nations. In Poland, that had been the direction that things had been going in, except they had been stopped cold by a timely intervention.

Was this a part of the human condition? Us versus Them and when the wrong set of conditions occurred, demagogues among the Us would do their level best to turn the majority against Them, the minority. She had read report after report about the obnoxious antics of Martin Bormann since she had taken on the role of Minister of the Interior. The man had been a brute, whose demise from a massive heart attack a few months earlier had been met with a considerable amount of relief within the Ministry. The Nationalist Party that he had led had splintered with former members throwing out accusations against one another. This had culminated a week prior when Klaus Barbie had shot and killed Adolf Eichmann at their Party’s headquarters in Frankfurt. The Head of the BII had been gleeful when he had phoned Helene to tell her what had happened. They got to arrest Barbie for murder as well as seizing every document they could lay their hands on as evidence. The later part was something that they had wanted to do for a long time.

Helene knew for certain that if Germany had fallen into such a state where a thug like Martin Bormann could gain power, Helene doubted that he would not hesitate to perform an atrocity on the scale of what had happened in Albania. Would society go along with such actions? Monstrous crimes that defied comprehension because they were on a massive scale? Helene had no idea. At the same time, there were groups on the far left like the Jacobins and the unreconstructed Stalinists who existed on the fringes. History revealed what they were capable of.

Helene’s role as the Minister of Interior made her the one responsible for keeping people like that contained. While at the same time she was supposed to be safeguarding the constitutional guarantees that made it so that they were free to spread their poison.



Palomar Observatory, Mount Palomar, California

“We are pleased that you came to visit Doctor Hirsch” Doctor Horace Babcock, the Director of Palomar Observatory said as he shook Ben’s hand, “And don’t believe for an instant what Herman Kempf has to say about me.”

“I hadn’t thought to bring it up” Ben replied as they started walking in the direction of what he presumed was Babcock’s office, “All he said was that I ought to mention to you something about a Chess rematch. He said you’ve been ducking him.”

“Oh, he would say that, wouldn’t he” Babcock said, “The lengths that man has gone to avoid saying that I beat him in a fair match is simply astonishing.”

“If you say so Sir” Ben said. He couldn’t help but noticing that Doctor Babcock and Professor Kempf were definitely two of a kind.

“No need to call me Sir” Babcock said, “A young man like you who has already has a number of accomplishments under his belt, I am proud to name as a colleague.”

“What are you trying to sell me on Sir” Ben replied and saw a look of annoyance cross Babcock’s face.

“I just laid it on a bit thick, didn’t I” Babcock said, “Professor Kempf said that you were looking continue to further your education.”

“And you were hoping to poach one of his students?” Ben asked, “For Caltech?”

Babcock just shrugged, as if to say you cannot blame a fellow for trying.

“That is for this autumn” Ben said, “I’m just here to take the tour tonight.”

“Yes” Babcock said adjusting his glasses, “I seem to recall being told that there would be two of you.”

“Originally it was planned that my wife would accompany us” Ben answered, “But she was exhausted after giving a lecture on Emergency Medicine and doing a tour of the UCLA Medical Center. She told me to go ahead on my own while she catches up on sleep, apparently she has something planned for tomorrow in Downtown Los Angeles.”

“I see” Babcock replied, though he probably didn’t. Kiki had told Ben that one of the difficulties she had encountered was that when people pictured a Physician it was inevitably an older man, distinguished looking, and she obviously didn’t fit the bill.

Just before they reached the door that led into the Observatory complex, Ben couldn’t help but notice the bright glow of city lights reflected off the clouds to the west. Whatever the difficulties that had been encountered in constructing the Argelander Observatory, a key consideration had been that the nearest large city was more than a hundred kilometers away.
 
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Helen has hit it on the head with her observations on the human condition. Last week there was an archeological report on a site in the Blkans of a mass grave that was 6,200 years old where all the skeletons of 40 odd men, women and children had apparently been executed from behind whilst in a kneeling position.
 
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